SPEAKING OUT AGAINST GOD

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

You have wearied the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied Him?” you ask.

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and He is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

“You have spoken arrogantly against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’”

“You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out His requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

Malachi 2:17, 3:13-15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever thought your words might weary God?

I think sometimes people can maybe feel that way, especially when they have endured a long hardship, one that involved consistent and persistent prayer over time. Maybe one’s prayer might even start out with something like this:

“Lord, it’s me…again. I know you probably get tired of me always bothering you with my problems but I just don’t know who else to turn to.”

Have you ever had these feelings yourself?

Well, the good news for you, me, and everyone else to turns to God for help is that He never tires from hearing from us. In fact, He wants us to turn to Him. He expects that we place our faith, trust, and hope in Him and Him alone. So don’t let Satan place negative thoughts in your head when it comes to bringing your needs to Him. He wants to hear from you.

With that being said, there are some things that people might say that do weary the Lord as we see in today’s scripture passage drawn from the final verse of Malachi 2 and the latter verses of chapter 3. Look again at those words here:

You have wearied the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied Him?” you ask.

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and He is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

“You have spoken arrogantly against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’”

“You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out His requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”  Malachi 2:17, 3:13-15

Note here that the people of God chose to speak out against Him, posing a grievance and even questioning whether He was paying attention to what was going on in their midst.

The complaining Israelites wondered why God would allow people who were doing evil to go unpunished, even asking, “Where is the God of justice?” They had decided in their minds that God was pleased with evil since the evildoers seemed to be prospering while He was seemingly doing nothing. They saw people sinning and putting God to the test but apparently getting away with it.

To further amplify their grumbling, those Israelites raising the complaint thought they were doing what was right and so should be appropriately rewarded for their righteousness. They stated that although they carried out the Lord’s requirements, then were gaining nothing for their loyalty, as if remaining obedient to God was akin to winning a lottery and being lavished with riches or something.

So what did the Lord have to say about this display of griping and frankly impunity?

He made it clear saying, “You have spoken arrogantly against Me.”

Think about it a minute.

This scene clearly paints a picture where the Israelites thought they had the right to question God, their Maker and Master!

Really? I mean, it was nothing short of craziness but that shows you how far God’s people had fallen into unfaithfulness and disloyalty, something we have already seen them indicted for in this book.

It’s little wonder why God had promised to send punishment on His people in response to their blatant disrespect for Him. He was not going to stand for insubordination, in any form, from anybody.

And guess what?

He won’t take it today either.

So the next time that anyone thinks it’s fine to speak out against God, perhaps they should come back to this devotion and the words of the Lord, words that make it clear that waging complaints against Him is wearying, arrogant, unacceptable, and grounds for His judgment.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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